The Transport Ministers of the EU Member States, meeting informally in Bucharest on Tuesday 26 and Wednesday 27 March, undertook to establish multimodal and clean transport and to develop the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).
The meeting "provided an opportunity to review important topics for European transport, a sector in constant transformation", said the Romanian Minister of Transport, Răzvan Cuc, at the opening of the press conference, on Wednesday 27 March. Following the example of the agenda (see EUROPE 12221/5), the ministers focused on three main issues: multimodality, the future of European transport (with a particular focus on clean mobility) and the TEN-T, including its implications in terms of territorial connectivity and cohesion.
"We need a multimodal approach at all levels", added Mr Cuc on the first topic. Violeta Bulc, Commissioner for Transport Policy, also stressed the need to develop multimodal transport. "It is not a burden, but an opportunity", she said, particularly in terms of modernisation, the creation of new business models and innovation.
On the clean mobility side, the Commissioner said that it was quite possible to have zero CO2 emission mobility by 2050. She welcomed the fact that ministers were taking advantage of the meeting to exchange best practices implemented at national level and called for more action to be taken in this area.
As for the discussion on the TEN-T, Mr Cuc stressed that the networks should be extended to neighbouring countries. As part of the financing of these networks, Mrs Bulc and Mr Cuc welcomed the conclusion of a partial inter-institutional agreement on the architecture of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) for the period 2021-2027 (see EUROPE 12210/5). Noting that this instrument could not meet all the EU's needs, the Commissioner called on Member States to use "all innovative financial instruments" to develop networks in Europe.
Finally, it is impossible not to mention the first mobility package, after the decision to postpone the plenary vote in the European Parliament (see other news). Mrs Bulc said she hoped that a compromise solution would be found quickly "to start the trilogues [inter-institutional negotiations]". (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau)